Nowadays, overpopulation and rapid development of industries and lifestyle lead to an increase in the consumption of natural resources and reduction of their resource. On the other hand, humans have always produced waste and disposed it in some way, which influence the environment. Therefore, the increase in waste that was generated by the industrial factories and the human activities needs to be managed. For this reason, scientists have discovered new types of engineering that include sustainable engineering and green engineering to reduce energy and natural resource consumptions. The main goal of this chapter is to explain the main advantages of sustainable manufacturing process and their effects in minimizing or eliminating production and processing wastes through eco-efficient practices, and it encourages adopting new environmental technologies. Therefore, this chapter offers a short introduction about sustainability, sustainable manufacturing process, solid-state management, and two case studies that include experimental works for recycling plastic waste and nonferrous waste materials by using sustainable solid waste recycling process to reduce waste and eliminate its influence on the environment.
Part of the book: Skills Development for Sustainable Manufacturing
Microplastics are defined as a tiny plastic particle with length less than 5 mm that result from commercial product development and the breakdown of larger plastics can be considered as harmful to our environment. The surfaces of plastic tiny fragments can be carrying disease-causing organisms and acts as a vector for diseases. The microplastics can found in water and soil carrying different types of contaminants. The small particles of microplastics serve as carriers for bacteria and persistent organic pollutants, which are considered as biodegradable material that remains active for years. The main definition of microplastics and their source as well as the effect of microplastic waste on the human health with the main solution that helps to eliminate this kind of waste will be explained in this chapter. It was found that the human person eats high quantity of microplastic particles every year through breath air, drinking water, and eating plant crops and animals. On the other hand, sea fish can contain microplastic parts due to drinking and eating sea water with microplastics. Therefore, it is very important to reduce throwing of plastic waste on the ocean and landfill to avoid the effect of microplastic on the human health.
Part of the book: Advances and Challenges in Microplastics